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Saturday, 23 April 2016

I Am Being Persecuted Because I Opposed Muslim/Muslim Ticket - Saraki

The President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki has, for the
first time, opened up on the intrigues of his ongoing trial at the Code of
Conduct Tribunal over asset declaration issues and the role of his party, the
All Progressives Congress (APC), saying that his refusal to support a
Muslim/Muslim ticket for the APC in the 2015 presidential election is largely
responsible for his ordeal.

Saraki who wrote a reply to an earlier article published
last Saturday by Dele Momodu in his Pendulum column said the position he took
on the running mate issue was his “original sin” and those whose ambition were
truncated by the position had been doing everything possible to frustrate him.

He said: “I have also been accused of helping to frustrate
some people’s opportunity to emerge as President Muhammadu Buhari’s
running mate. But I have no problem with anybody. My concern was that it would
not be politically smart of us to run with a Muslim-Muslim ticket. I doubt if
we would have won the election if we had done this, especially after the PDP
had successfully framed us a Muslim party. I felt we were no longer in 1993.
Perhaps, more than ever before, Nigerians are more sensitive to issues of
religious balancing. This was my original sin.